Former Syracuse University basketball player Rick Dean passes away

Post-Standard file photoRick Dean during his days with the Syracuse University basketball team.

Rick Dean, who played on Syracuse University’s basketball team from 1964 to 1967, passed away on Thursday due to complications from cancer of the femur. He was 67 years old.

In recent years, Dean had retired as a pastor at the Waverly Grace United Methodist Church in Waverly, Ohio. Prior to that, Dean ministered at the Higgins Memorial United Methodist Church in Burnsville, N.C.

Dean, a 6-foot-6 center, started on Syracuse teams that included future Hall of Famers Dave Bing and Jim Boeheim. After coming off the bench as a sophomore, Dean started as both a junior and a senior.

As a junior on the 1966 Syracuse team that featured seniors Bing and Boeheim, Dean averaged 12.1 points and 5.2 rebounds. Syracuse advanced to the East Region finals of the NCAA Tournament.

The following year, Dean averaged 18.0 points and 9.1 rebounds for the 1966-67 team, which went 20-6. George Hicker was one year behind Dean at Syracuse.

“He was a senior and guys like me, Vaughn Harper and Richie Cornwall were juniors,’’ Hicker said Friday. “He was the anchor. He got the ball. He set the picks.’’

After graduating, Dean was drafted by the San Francisco Warriors of the NBA and the Denver Nuggets of the ABA. However, Dean had been part of the ROTC while at Syracuse and enlisted in the U.S. Army.

While serving in the Vietnam War, Dean became leader of his platoon in the 101st Airborne Division. He earned both the Silver Star and the Bronze Star.

He later worked for the FBI before becoming an ordained minister.

Dean is survived by his wife, Ruth Ann. The two were college sweethearts at Syracuse and married shortly after his graduation in 1967. He is also survived by a son, Grant, a daughter, Suzanne Johnson, and four granddaughters.

“He’s how you’d like your kids to grow up. That’s what Rick Dean was,’’ Hicker said. “The good thing is, knowing his faith, I know and he knows that he’s in a better place.’’